


Welcome Home, Son

by Calacious



Category: General Hospital (TV 1963)
Genre: Angst, Father-Son Relationship, Gift Fic, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Recovery, Shooting (Off screen), Spoilers for some events in the show, Working with the FBI, leaving Port Charles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28309887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calacious/pseuds/Calacious
Summary: Jason is more than ready to put Sonny, and Port Charles behind him, but first he needs to make sure that the man he loves, and the young man he's just started getting to know as his son are safe, and that Sonny is going to be kept far away from all of them.
Relationships: Jason Morgan/Johnny Zacchara
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Welcome Home, Son

**Author's Note:**

  * For [suerum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/suerum/gifts).



> Please forgive the errors. 
> 
> Merry Christmas, Sue. I hope that you enjoy this gift of words.

He is having a shitty day, and it looks like his shitty day is only going to get worse. Jason sighs, and rubs at his temples, hoping that he'll be able to stop the impending headache before it can take hold. Everything is hinging on this whole meeting going smoothly, on him not blowing his cover until everything’s ready. It’s not his life that’s on the line. It’s someone who is far more important. His son’s. Spinelli’s.

"Sonny," he says, forcing a smile he doesn't feel to his lips. Jason’s gotten good at this. He’s looking forward to putting an end to the game, and watching Sonny fall.

He has to play it cool. Pretend that he doesn't know what Sonny’s done, what the man was planning to do. It makes him sick, but Jason shakes Sonny's hand, and lets the man draw him close for a one-armed hug, and tries not to stiffen when Sonny kisses him on the cheek.

There was a time when any type of affection from Sonny would make Jason's heart fill with pride. A time when he'd have been thrilled at the attention. He is well beyond that time now. 

"Jason." Sonny looks genuinely pleased to see him. Jason can see it in the way that his former mentor's normally steely gaze seems to soften. "It's good to see you."

Jason nods. He doesn't trust his voice right now. He reminds himself that, in just a few short minutes, he'll be able to stop this ruse, and in a few short hours, he’ll be leaving both Sonny and Port Charles behind for good. 

"Any news about Spinelli?" Sonny asks, voice filled with sympathy that Jason is certain the man does not feel.

Jason's stomach churns, and he bites the inside of his cheek to keep from saying something that will give him away. He wants to laugh at the absurdity of Sonny asking after Spinelli when it’s Sonny who’s done something to the young man in the first place. Jason takes a deep breath, and faces the monster that his former boss has become, perhaps has always been, and fights the urge he has to rip the man apart with his bare hands. 

Jason shakes his head. "Nothing yet," he lies. 

It’s easy lying to the man who'd been lying to him for over a week now, pretending to care about the missing Spinelli's welfare when he'd known where he was all along, trapped in a rat-infested room in one of his many warehouses. Sonny places a hand on Jason's shoulder, and squeezes. 

"I'm sure that he'll be found soon," he says.

Jason resists the urge he has to shake off Sonny's hand. He grits his teeth and says what he knows is true, "I know."

As a matter of fact, Spinelli is currently being removed from the hellhole Sonny had placed him in. Johnny and the FBI are working together to rescue Spinelli, and though Jason wishes he could be there, too, because he hasn’t breathed easily since Spinelli’s gone missing, he needs to be here. 

Jason has his own plans for Sonny. He’s just waiting for the all-clear from Johnny before he acts on them, though he has a feeling the police will step in before he can do what he really wants to do, which is place Sonny six feet under.

"At times like this, it's important to keep a level head, and think positively," Sonny says. 

His voice is dripping sincerity the way a cobra's would drip venom, and Jason wants to punch the look of false sympathy right off of the man's face. Instead, he nods, and drops his head so that Sonny won't be able to see his glare. 

"When Michael was in prison..." Sonny trails off, squeezing Jason's shoulder. "I was going crazy with worry. It was all I could do not to break him out of that place. I wish that I had."

Jason finds it hard to feel anything but hatred for Sonny, using his son like that, in an attempt to try to make Jason think that he understands what it’s like, now that he knows that Spinelli is Jason’s son. Sonny seems sympathetic, maybe even empathetic, but the man can never truly understand another person's pain, because he is incapable of feeling anything real. 

He pretends to have normal emotions, and most of the time he pretends well, but Jason knows the truth. Sonny’s a sociopath, a monster who had not only kidnapped Spinelli once he found out that he was Jason's son, but tried to sell him in an effort to make him disappear for good, so that he could keep Jason for himself. It’s sick, and wrong, and Jason is just done and tired of it all. As soon as Johnny and the FBI have Spinelli safe, Jason’s going to take care of Sonny, and all three of them would leave Port Charles for good.

Just as Jason is about to punch the fake sympathy off of Sonny’s face, his phone buzzes. He holds a finger up to Sonny as the man opens his mouth, no doubt to utter more false platitudes. 

“Speak,” Jason says, some of his anger toward Sonny slipping free. 

“I’ve got him,” Johnny says.

Relief is like a punch to the gut, and Jason closes his eyes. “Thank you,” he says.

“I’m taking him to the clinic,” Johnny says. “We’ll meet you there.”

Jason tamps down on his urge to request more information. He clenches his fist, because the clinic was their second option for where they were going to meet to carry out the rest of their operation once they had Spinelli. 

“He’s okay,” Johnny says, voice quiet, calming. “He’s just dehydrated, and his blood sugar’s low.”

Jason knows that there’s more that Johnny isn’t telling him, but he doesn’t hold it against the other man. Johnny has his own demons to deal with, and he knows Jason’s with Sonny. He doesn’t want things to fall apart when they’re almost home free.

“Sounds good,” Jason says, forcing himself to smile as he turns around to find Sonny staring at him. The man is frowning, and Jason wonders if Sonny knows that he’s been played.

“See you soon,” Johnny says, and then Jason hangs up. His heart hammers in his chest with the need to leave and see for himself that Spinelli, his son, is okay, and that Johnny is handling the crisis as well as he’d seemed to be doing on the phone. 

“Everything okay?” Sonny asks, reaching to place a hand on Jason’s shoulder. 

This time, Jason aborts Sonny’s move by shifting to the side, and then grabbing Sonny’s arm and spinning the man. He pins the arm behind Sonny’s back and ignores the man’s struggles and sputtered indignation. 

“Listen up, Sonny,” Jason hisses in the man’s ear. “Spinelli and Johnny are safe, and you’re going to prison. The game’s up.”

A protest dies on Sonny’s lips when he sees a group of plain clothed officers surge forward, one pulling a badge out, and the rest pulling out weapons, all pointing at the mobster. Sonny stops struggling, though he doesn’t sag. He squares his chest, best as he can with his arm jacked up behind his back in a way that Jason knows is painful, because he’s applying as much pressure as he can.

It’s anticlimactic when the police officers take Sonny away. The man doesn’t so much as glance Jason’s direction as he’s carted out, which is just fine as far as Jason’s concerned. He has other things on his mind, and after making his statement to the police, he’s out the door of the cafe, hurrying to Spinelli and Johnny. 

He’s got a one-way ticket out of Port Charles for himself, Spinelli and Johnny, and he’s more than ready to put the past behind all of them. It’s been a rough year and a half working with the police and the FBI to bring down Sonny. The offer of WITSEC was tempting when it was first brought up all those months ago, but Jason would rather disappear with Johnny and Spinelli on his own. Corruption runs through all agencies, and Jason is not about to trust anyone with the lives of his son and boyfriend. He’s looking forward to moving on and not having to worry about Sonny’s manipulations and deep pockets. 

Jason reaches the clinic on autopilot. It’s out of the way. A place that Sonny, and those who work for him, are unfamiliar with. A place that only he and Johnny know about. It was where Johnny ended up going after Sonny had shot him and left him for dead after the man had seen him kissing Jason.   
“Where are they?” Jason asks, voice breaking. 

The nurse, someone he’s never seen before, gives him a curt nod before leading him to the back of the clinic.

“They’re in there,” the nurse says, and then he beats a hasty retreat.

Jason’s hand trembles as he reaches for the door. He takes a deep breath, and wills the trembling to stop. He’s afraid of what he’ll see, of just how damaged Spinelli is. The things he’d imagined his son going through made it impossible for him to sleep the entire week and a half that Spinelli was missing, only Johnny’s assurance that he would be with Jason, and that he would go with the FBI on their raid of the warehouse they suspected Spinelli was being held in, helped ease his mind. He hated not being able to be in on the rescue, but he’d needed to be there at the meet to help take Sonny down.

Before he can open the door, it opens, and there’s Johnny and beyond him, Spinelli. Zeroing in on Spinelli, Jason brushes past Johnny, knowing the man won’t be offended, and pulls Spinelli into a crushing hug. If neither of them ever needed to breathe again, Jason wouldn’t let go. As it is, his body doesn’t want to cooperate when Spinelli squeaks out a, “Stone Cold,” and squirms in his hold.

“I’m okay,” Spinelli says. His voice is hoarse, and he’s thinner than the last time Jason saw him. He’s got bruising along his jaw, at his left temple, and his wrists and ankles have the distinct markings of being bound in rope for too long. 

The marks around Spinelli’s wrists are rubbed raw from attempts at escaping them. Jason wonders if Spinelli was bound in ropes the entire week and a half of his captivity - the thought of it nauseates him. 

“I’m going to kill him,” Jason hisses out. 

Johnny places a hand on his lower back, and Spinelli reaches for his hand. He shakes his head. 

“It’s over,” Spinelli says. “I’m okay. I promise. He can’t hurt any of us anymore. You, Johnny, or me.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Jason says. He never makes it to the door, Spinelli’s grip is stronger than it has any right being after what he’s gone through, and Johnny’s blocking the way.

“Remember the plan,” Johnny says, at the same time that Spinelli says, “We need you. I need you.”

“The thought of him getting away with this,” Jason says, gesturing toward Spinelli, and to the scar that crosses too close to Johnny’s carotid (Sonny had shot him in the neck, and in the chest). “All because of his fucked up obsession with me. It’s too much.”

“He’s not getting away with it,” Johnny says. 

“I don’t trust the FBI,” Jason says. “He’s too slippery.”

“I don’t want you to go to jail for murdering a megalomaniac stalker, Stone Cold,” Spinelli says, squeezing Jason’s hand. “The Jackal has just learned of his true parentage, and...Stone Cold...Dad, he...I don’t want to lose you now. Don’t let him win. Please.”

Jason’s not sure if it’s Spinelli’s, please, or his use of the word, Dad, that has him turning around and forgetting about killing Sonny. If prison doesn’t teach the man the errors of his ways, or kill him outright, then Jason will. Just not now, with Johnny looking two shades paler, and Spinelli giving him doe eyes.

“What if he escapes?” Jason asks. 

“Then we’ll go after him,” Johnny says.

“All of us,” Spinelli adds in a voice that is steely. 

Jason shakes his head, the thought of Spinelli helping take down the mob boss, and getting hurt (or worse) in the process is terrifying, as is the thought of Johnny getting shot again. He can’t risk losing either of them. He can’t risk losing Spinelli, not so soon after finding him, and after learning what he is to him.

“Dad,” Spinelli says, as though testing out the word, and Jason’s heart lurches in his chest. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of hearing that word from Spinelli’s lips. 

Nodding, and secretly vowing to sneak off to kill Sonny if he needs to without telling Spinelli or Johnny, Jason settles in the chair beside Spinelli’s bed. They’ll need to leave soon if they’re going to catch their flight out of this hell, but he wants to know that it’s okay for his son (another word that he will never tire of hearing or speaking) to travel to their safe haven in New Zealand.

It’s not a place that Sonny will ever think to look for them if he does manage to bribe his way out of prison. And if, on the off chance, Sonny does track them down there, they’ve got places all over the world where they can find refuge, and people ready and willing to hide them should the need arise, through connections that Jason’s spent the better part of a year cultivating while he’d helped the FBI build their case against Sonny for smuggling, gun and drug running, and kidnapping with Spinelli being just one person (in a surprisingly long string of people) Sonny had kidnapped to put pressure on one of his enemies. There was murder as well, and the promise of immuniity is something that Jason’s not taking lightly.

Johnny slips from the room to get the doctor, leaving Jason alone with his son. It’s the first time he’s been alone with Spinelli in far too long. 

“I’m sorry,” Jason says, apologizing for the actions of the monster who’d taken advantage of him when he’d been in a vulnerable state of mind what feels like a lifetime ago now. 

“Don’t ever apologize for Mr. Sir,” Spinelli says. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Jason can’t help, but think that it was his fault. After all, if Sonny hadn’t taken him under his wing all of those years ago, fashioned him into the man he is today, and then taken an unhealthy interest in keeping Jason to himself, Spinelli wouldn’t be lying in the bed of a clinic, bruised, dehydrated and traumatized.

“Stop that,” Spinelli says, voice fierce enough to draw Jason out of his own thoughts. Spinelli thumps him on the head, causing Jason to frown.

“What?” Jason asks, rubbing at his forehead. 

“Stop blaming yourself for what Mr. Sir did,” Spinelli says. “He’s the one who almost killed Johnny. He’s the one who had me kidnapped. He’s the one who’s twisted reality to his own liking. He’s hurt you more than he’s hurt me or Johnny.”

Jason doesn’t know how Spinelli can see it that way, but he knows that if he voices that out loud, Spinelli will waste no time in explaining it to him. He wants his son to rest rather than appease his father’s conscience. Something Spinelli has done far too often over the years, something that Jason should have been doing for him all along, even if he’d never learned that Spinelli was his son.

“I love you,” the words spill out of Jason’s mouth before he can take them back, not that he would if he could. “I don’t know what I would have done if --”

“Don’t go there,” Spinelli says. “What happened was...pretty awful, but the Jackal is made of sterner stuff, after all, he’s the direct descendent of Stone Cold.”

Spinelli’s smiling and Jason’s heart does that lurching thing again. Absurdly, it makes him think of the Grinch’s heart growing. Or maybe it’s not so absurd. A week and a half ago, he hadn’t known that his heart could ache and break the way it had when Spinelli was kidnapped, and before that, when he’d learned that Spinelli was his son, he hadn’t known it could be filled with so much love.

“I loved you before I knew,” Jason adds. “I just --”

“You’re terrible at communicating your feelings, Jason,” Johnny interrupts. There’s a smile on his face, and a doctor at his side. 

The next part is a whirlwind of activity as Spinelli is given the greenlight to travel as long as he drinks plenty of fluids and replenishes his electrolytes. All of which Jason makes sure to write down because he doesn’t want to get any of this wrong. Not when he’s spent so much time messing up where Spinelli is concerned. 

It’s not until after they’ve landed in New Zealand, and are on the way to their new home that the tension Jason’s been holding over the past year and a half starts to leave him. When he sees Spinelli’s eyes light up as they enter the house and Jason shows him his room (not pink), he can finally breathe freely, something he’s not been able to do since he found out that Spinelli was his son, and that Sonny wasn’t too keen on the fact.

Johnny starts working on putting things to order, giving Jason and Spinelli time together. He busies himself with taking stock of what’s in the kitchen, which he’d taken care of back when they were still in Port Charles, ordering essentials and foodstuffs to be delivered. He’d offered to part ways, but Spinelli had quickly vetoed that idea, which made Jason more proud of him than he was able to admit. Maybe Johnny was right about him not being able to ‘communicate’ his feelings. Something to ponder at another time.

“Welcome home, son,” Jason says, pulling Spinelli into a hug. There will never be enough time to make up for all of the hugs that he’s denied Spiinelli over the years, but he’s going to do his damnedest to try. “Welcome home.”


End file.
